So, the old B-League thread has gone on for over 9 months, and during that time Bellator has slowly ascended to the level of a B+ League, and Strikeforce has been dead since about January. Thus it's time for a new B-League thread. Yuriy was originally going to do this but he's banned at the moment, so apparently that task falls on me. Because apparently the Rapture was due to come before someone else would make a B-League thread. Or at least, the stuff I'd already written up for it would be falling out of date. The stuff not written by me will be properly attributed. This OP is subject to updates and is a work in progress.

If you're short on time, this is Rolles Gracie summing up 90% of B-League MMA in a nutshell:

Yuriy posted:

IT'S TIME for MMA that is too awful to be in the UFC!

Welcome to the new b-league thread, this is a compilation of currently active non-UFC MMA organizations that put on somewhat regular shows.

I'll be focusing on organizations with either TV deals like the World Series of Fighting or the organizations under the AXS.TV banner, and those with regular (and legal) internet streams.

Why watch B-leagues?
All the fighters that end up in the UFC had to come from somewhere and since even The Ultimate Fighter requires most of their guys to have a few professional fights somewhere this is where b-leagues come in. With a few exceptions like Invicta and Ray Sefo's World Series of Fighting most of these organizations are regional, allowing local fighters to get experience and have a place to fight and build their brands. A few of these organizations act as feeder leagues for the UFC and by watching these shows you can get a glimpse and preview of prospects and guys who will end up fighting there.

They're also a place for the guys who couldn't cut it in the UFC to get a paycheck by fighting these prospects and either re-building a streak that might let them get back into the UFC or by losing and enabling prospects to get wins over guys who have a name and reputation.

Also they can be really, really funny when guys like Bob Sapp and Jeff Monson can “fight” and take quick losses cashing in on the fact that they used to matter and acting as draws to attract live fans and viewers. Other organizations like India's Super Fight League and Ukraine's Oplot Challenge provide cheap laughs by watching guys who focus on “traditional martial arts” (poo poo that doesn't work) flail around at each other and put internet kimuras on guys who don't know what a wrestle or BJJ is.

Where's Strikeforce and Bellator?!

Strikeforce died and got bought by Zuffa, you should remember it with this.

Since Bellator generates enough news and is trying a PPV on November 2nd, it's been exiled to its own thread.

When and where can I watch these?
The most convenient way to get a rundown of what's going on any particular week is to check the thread and look for the schedule that me or Individual865 will inevitably put up. We break it down day by day including cards, relevant fights, and links to any legal streams.

Where can I talk about events? Why aren't there GDTs?!
Not a whole lot of the posters here watch b-leagues, even fewer post about them in the b-league thread as they're going on live. Since there's many weekly events and varied interest in them the GDT gets messy and clunky between fighter news and people posting about events. As a result, most of the reaction posts and GDT type posting goes on in #mma on synirc.net.

This guy is really good, why isn't he in the UFC?!
This is a question that comes up a lot about guys like Bibiano Fernandes or Mamed Khalidov. There's a few answers and variables but the most common ones are that either they're locked in to a terrible contract , get paid better to main event regional shows than the contract that the UFC offered them, aren't as good as their record or performance against cans would indicate, or have criminal records, visa issues, or lack the ability to keep their mouths shut when it comes to saying retarded poo poo.

Now it's time for the orgs!

World Series of Fighting

After the death of Strikeforce, a hole was left in the world of MMA. Where could we go now to watch trash that got cut from the UFC earn too much money to crush cans and have hilarious fights? Where could Nick Diaz go after he inevitably cut for smoking weed?

Why should I care?
WSOF is a fairly unique organization in that it launched directly with a TV deal on NBC Sports, the former home of both the UFC and the WEC. Launched by Ray Sefo in 2012, it now reportedly has a 3 year TV deal putting it in a b-league tier that only includes AXS.TV Fights and Bellator in that it's actually on TV.

While Bellator used to have problems hiring UFC washouts, the WSOF never did offering a home to both fighters put to pasture, surprise sex joke tweeters, and a few exciting prospects.

Unfortunately the promotion might have already reached it's Hendo/Fedor moment and peaked with the main event of WSOF 3.

Who matters?

The WSOF doesn't have titles yet so the only way to determine who matters is from their exploits in other organizations and whatever performances they put on in WSOF events. Luckily they have a metric gently caress ton of UFC washouts. Their full roster is at their website at wsof.com but here's a few of their more notable fighters by weight class.

Dave Huckaba: Guy who fought in Bellator and most recently hosed up WSOF president, Ray Sefo at WSOF 4 (21-5)

Derrick Mehmen: Formerly in both Bellator and Strikeforce, this trashweight is now fighting Rolles Gracie Jr. at WSOF 5 (15-5)

Devil Cole: Former WEC and Strikeforce fighter and man who lost to relevant trashweight Daniel Cormier, Cole's WSOF legacy is being knocked out by Arlovski in 2012. (20-10-1)

Rolles Gracie Jr: He's a Gracie and his only notable fights are getting knocked out by Joey Beltran and a minute long win over Bob Sapp (8-1)

Mike Kyle: UFC, WEC, and Strikeforce fighter. Keeps retiring and then taking it back. Fighting Arlovski at WSOF 5. Likes drugs and hitting people after the bell. (20-9-1, 2 NC)

Light Heavyweights:

Anthony “Rumble” Johnson – Fought a lot in the UFC, really doesn't like making weight, pretty fun to watch (15-4)

Tyrone Spong – Great kickboxer, current Glory 95kg Champion, made the transition to MMA (2-0)

Middleweight: They're doing a 4-man tournament for their inaugural title!

Danillo Villefort – Fought in the WEC, fought in the UFC, participating in the tourney (14-4)

David Branch – Fought in the UFC, fought in Bellator, tourney participant (12-3)

Jesse Taylor – Most notable for getting kicked off of TUF7. Had one fight in the UFC and lost to CB Dolloway, had a fight in Dream and 2 losses in Strike force. Tourney participant (26-9)

Elvis Mutapcic – The final tourney participant, this guy might be considered a prospect. Has a few pretty cool, flashy finishes from MFC (aired on AXS.TV). (13-2)

Eugene Fadiora – British prospect, finishes a lot of fights with his only loss coming from Gunnar Nelson. Probably worth keeping an eye on. (12-1)

Paulo Filho – This guy was once considered one of the best middleweights in the world. Great grappler but he really, really likes drugs. The reason that Chael P. never got a real title. Former Pride fighter, WEC middleweight champion, he really pissed away his career. Had one of the most bizarre MMA moments with his odd desire to rest on the ground with the People's Champ. (23-5-2)

Kris McCray – Runner-up on TUF11, he had a 0-3 stint in the UFC, won 1 in Bellator, hasn't really done poo poo since. (8-5)

Dustin Jacoby – Glory kickboxer and 0-2 UFC fighter (9-3)

Yuriy's laptop died at this point. I'd written up stuff on some of the other major promotions, but as for finishing the WSoF stuff right this moment, well

Welterweight

Josh Burkman (25-9) - This dude hosed up Jon Fitch and Aaron Simpson, and is easily a Top 15 Welterweight.

Jon Fitch (24-5-1) - This dude used to be really good at immobilizing other dudes, but the UFC cut him when he was still Top 10 in the world or so because his name was synonymous with coma-inducing wrestlefucking. He's still a very formidable fighter

Gerald Harris (21-5) - This UFC veteran is pretty loving good, having gone 3-1 in the promotion before being let go to be made an example of by Dana White for a single really lovely fight.

Aaron Simpson (12-5) - Another veteran who had a winning record inside the UFC but was released for reasons probably related to wrestlefucking.

Jorge Santiago (25-11) - Outside the UFC he's a worldbeater, and had a MOTY-contender against Kazuo Misaki. Inside the UFC he gets beaten by top dudes and repeatedly released. I'm pretty sure he also pissed in Joe Silva's Corn Flakes once. Sports some pretty rad sunglasses.

Brian Cobb (20-7) - Veteran of Canadian C-League MFC, his record is incorrectly listed on the WSoF as 20-57

Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante (17-7) - He used to be considered a Top 10 Lightweight in the world, and has fought in Pride in Strikeforce. Then he fizzled out. Then he was posed for a comeback. Then he joined The Blackzillians. Now he's a cautionary tale.

Nick Newell (9-0) - Undefeated fighter lacking a left hand, exploiting a blatant loophole in the Unified Rules in order to make 155.

Tyson Griffin (16-7) - Former fringe contender in the UFC.

Keon Caldwell (9-1)

Justin Gaethe (8-0)

Jacob Volkmann (15-4) - Tea Partier Stand-Up Comedian

Featherweight

Chris Horodecki (19-4-1) - UFC and WEC veteran. Also Canadian. Knocked out by Yves Edwards once. This is about as much effort as I'm willing to expend on Chris Horodecki.

Tyson Nam (12-5) - Holds a win over a reigning Bellator Champion, causing Bellator to threaten a lawsuit when he accomplished this because, Bellator. Eventually Bellator let him go when they had bigger fish to gently caress over.

Miguel Torres (40-6) - Former WEC Bantamweight Champion of the World, whose exciting fighting style and funny one-liners set his star ascendant. Unfortunately he is a master of poor life choices and even worse choices on twitter, and is the first UFC fighter to ever be released from the promotion for making a surprise sex joke on twitter twice. Yes, released two different times for this.

Invicta Fighting Championships was founded in 2012 by former Strikeforce/IFL/Affliction/UFC executive Shannon Knapp and matchmaker Janet Martin as an all-women's promotion. While not the first such promotion, it is by far the most ambitious. It currently houses just over half of the 50 fighters listed in the WMMA Unified Rankings (28/50 under contract by my count), including the #1 fighters in the world at Womens Featherweight, Flyweight, and Atomweight. With Bellator having recently shuttered its womens divisions, they may yet grab several more Top 10 Flyweights and Strawweights, having already picked up Felice Herrig.

Thus far Invicta has held six events on a quarterly schedule, with the most recent event airing on PPV and iPPV for $15. They've managed to convert a lot of MMA fans into WMMA fans, by showcasing many of the women fighters in the world in some badass fights. Check out Thug Rose Namajunas vs. Tecia Torres for a recent example. Many of Invicta's fights from Invicta 1-4 (before they were on stable PPV) are available on their current and older YouTube channels.

One major problem is the sheer depth of their roster is making it impossible for them to properly showcase everyone with cards only four times a year, even with 12-14 fights a card. As there appears to be entreaties from Showtime and other television networks, hopefully Invicta can get on television by the start of 2014. So far, Shannon Knapp, who had television offers since the very first show, appears to be holding out for the deal that doesn't strip her of creative control.

Overview: Of the five competitive WMMA divisions, this is the thinnest, and Invicta has single-handedly kept it relevant. Despite this, some top prospects are actually just being shoe-horned into it, and Invicta is actually looking to add a Lightweight division in the long-term, using Featherweight as a springboard, presumably in hopes that if there is a stage for women at that weight to display their skills, more will be attracted to the sport. It's also a division that the UFC wouldn't be looking to scoop up anytime soon, the way they've grabbed most of the Bantamweight talent and scooped up a bunch of top Flyweights in the process. Nevertheless, Invicta basically owns this division right now, with the top 4 fighters in the world under contract and 6 of the top 10, including the only real contender to Ronda Rousey's claim as the Baddest Woman on Earth, the very scary Cris Cyborg.

Overview: While Invicta has world #9 and #10 BWs Lauren Taylor and Sarah D'Alelio in addition to a few really good prospects, the UFC has almost everything else including the rest of the Top 10. Earlier in their existence Zuffa lent Invicta some of their female Strikeforce fighters in a mutually beneficially arrangement, but that appears to be over now. Shannon Knapp has stated publicly that they're waiting for The Ultimate Fighter 18 to play out so they know who they can sign before crowning a Bantamweight Champion, although Lauren Taylor appears to have secured herself a spot in the Inaugural Bantamweight Title match. I presume following TUF 18 they may also pick up some natural Flyweights and Featherweights who made the show but don't end up in the UFC. TUF 18 actually stripped Invicta of quite a bit of their talent as Knapp let anyone who wanted to leave do so since she is not an rear end in a top hat like Bjorn Rebney. In fact, she generally is pretty loving awesome.

Overview: With half of the world's Top 10 fighters, Invicta dominates this division but Invicta is surprisingly short on depth here, as they've previously spent a lot of resources crystalizing Featherweight and Atomweight while showcasing Strawweight (deepest of the divisions) and Bantamweight (which initially had the most star power). It doesn't help that the current champion, Barb Honchak, is a wrestler with a slightly cardboard personality, but the always-badass Leslie Smith is the confirmed #1 contender and I've yet to see a Leslie Smith match that was less than badass. Bellator shuttering their divisions has left at least a couple of high-end Flyweights available, but plans for Invicta 7 haven't been announced yet. At this rate it may end up being a 20-fight card to fit everyone.

Overview: It should be noted that despite not having the top two fighters in the division, this is Invicta's deepest, and outside of those two they basically own with the rest of the Top 10 and then some. Also, World #2 Megumi Fujii is set to retire after her next fight, and Invicta is in negotiations with World #1 Jessica Aguilar now that she has been released from Bellator's prison. Anyway, this is the division where they just have oodles of talent and some of their best fights. I even made a poster to illustrate that this is the best division globally. Now Thug Rose follows me on Twitter. Worth it.

Invicta has 11 of those 16 women, not including Ms. Aguilar who they are in negotiations with. I'm sure Shannon Knapp would sell a kidney to sign Fujii though. Meanwhile they have loving everyone else who matters, including fan favorites Joanne Calderwood, Bec Hyatt, and Rose Namajunas. I guess what I'm saying is this is the bestest Invicta division and better than any division not in the UFC.

Overview: Prior to Invicta, this division barely existed outside of Japan. It's thanks to Invicta that it's become a crystalized, legitimate division with regular challengers, even if the rankings are still sorting themselves out (how the gently caress Alex Chambers isn't in the Top 10 in the WMMA Unified Rankings is beyond me). I should note that Invicta is currently in negotiations to sign World #3 Atomweight Seo Hee Ham to get a direct title shot at Michelle Waterson next, possibly at Invicta 7. Anyway, Atomweights may be the tiniest of punchwomen, but they are also the fastest and Michelle Waterson vs. Jessica Penne showcased just how much more flexible the women can be than men when it comes to grappling.

ONE Fighting Championships (more commonly known as just OneFC), was founded in 2011 by Filipino Canadian sports media executive Victor Cui, in what was at first just a very coordinated marketing blitzkrieg of Singapore. After a successful first show, they quickly established major television deals across Asia and started attracting refugees from the dying JMMA scene, including long-time Top 10 staples Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Bibiano Fernandes. In fact, when the UFC offered Fernandes $15k + $15k for a spot on their ill-fated Calgary show, OneFC promptly quadrupled the offer. In general, they have a very international roster, and are Asia's largest and most successful regional promotion. They also are behind the annual Dream MMA resurrection shows on New Years Eve.

Although the promotion has had fights at all 8 competitive divisions in the Unified Rules, they tend to specialize in the lighter weight divisions. They also possess a ruleset that is basically the Pride ruleset with elbows, or the Unified Rules with knees, kicks, and stomps to a grounded opponents. Whichever.

They have so far put on nine shows with two more currently scheduled. OneFC is scheduled for Friday, September 13 (Thursday in North America).

Champions & Divisions
Disclaimer: not all of these people are exclusive or even current.

Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki, literally translated as "Martial Arts Confrontation", is a Polish promotion founded in 2004 that toiled more or less in obscurity until around 2009, when it seemed to pick up some steam on the back of rising star LHW/MW Mamed Khalidov, and then really took off in December of that year when Polish national hero and World's Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski decided to get into MMA, which has been entertaining for all the wrong reasons. They are now a huge regional promotions, and possibly the most important promotion in all of Europe.

KSW has had 28 events with one currently scheduled for September 28. How you view it I have no idea. They currently promote fights in 7 Men's divisions Featherweight - Super Heavyweight, and as best I can determine, two Women's divisions (Strawweight and Flyweight). At least in the top portions of the card, they tend to focus on the heavier divisions (Middleweight and higher).

While Poland does have quite a bit of native MMA talent, and KSW is a relatively polished and professional production, the judging has been known to be a little bit... odd. Resulting in moments like this.

Champions and Divisions
Note: not all of these listings are exclusive or current.

OPLOT (this promotion is everything you ever needed to know about Ukrainian culture)

Anyway I totally encourage people to do write-ups on whatever minor promotion they want, and I'll try to add it up top. This isn't just for B-Leagues, this is B-through-Z Leagues really. However, if it's really obscure, their probably ought to be some other compelling reason to include it, like if it's culturally educational, truly hilarious, or preferably both.

Yuriy did a write-up for OPLOT, the Ukrainian fed responsible for a number of brawling Heavyweights from Russia and the Ukraine (and a few random other Eastern Europeans and Americans) with uneven physiques and questionable cardio. Also if you ever wanted to know what the Ukraine was like culturally, watching is an excellent primer right down to their drunk ring announcer singing along to the entrance songs and an amateur fighter chugging a beer between rounds last show. They also somehow do shows weekly, as Ukrainians are nothing if not industrious (at drinking and fighting anyway).

What the gently caress is Oplot?
So you guys remember Super Fight League? The poo poo-tier Indian promotion with the really stupid theme song, terrible fights that were so bad they became good by virtue of being funny and live YouTube shows every week? Well they're loving dead or doing pre-taped non-live shows or something which to MMA fans is pretty much the same thing. The good news is that Oplot MMA has risen to replace them as the p4p league of our hearts.

Oplot MMA is run by this guy Alexey Oleinik who has a loss to Chael Sonnen, an avenged loss to Jeff Monson, and has fought in YAMMA Pit Fights, KSW, M-1, and Bellator. He fights in his own promotion and other Russian cards nowadays. Well, he owns Oplot and runs it out of a nightclub called Club Oplot.

Why should I give a poo poo about Oplot?
Did you just wake up on a Friday or Saturday afternoon with nothing to do, a hangover and a hankering for cheap laughs and bloodsport?

Enter Oplot. Somehow despite running out of a night club and presumably being run by the mob these guys have a great streaming set up. They run shows on YouTube once or twice a week that are full of hilarious shadowboxing vignettes, fighters that seem to get like an hour of notice before their fights half the time, hilarious striking and grappling that's either entirely Sambo based or learned from the internet.

They have an AMAZING announcer named Cardo with a gravelly voice that has his own theme song (It's the Rocky theme), sings along to fighter walk out songs played by Club Oplot's resident DJ, DJ Antonio, and has surprisingly good English. DJ Antonio doesn't have a huge repertoire of songs he likes and there's no such thing as "licensing" or "copyrights" in Eastern Europe so he mostly plays that stupid loving Roy Jones Jr song, that one chanting song that every Russian Muslim walks out to, DMX's discography or Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise. He also plays victory themes every time someone wins which is either "Simply the Best" or "We are the Champions".

If you like ring girls, Oplot has those too provided by Ukraine's thriving sex and human trafficking industry. In the past, DJ Antonio would make regular intermissions where they'd either have raffles, children's poetry readings, a stripper dance break, or an arm-wrestling contest from people in the audience. The card with the children's poetry reading had multiple dance breaks.

How are the actual fights?
You remember the heavyweight classic of Soa Palelei versus ? If you don't, it's outlined here. Well that dashing, fedora-clad gangster is an Oplot product.

Oplot trains the fighters that fight for them, they hire local Russians, and right now they're in the process of running a 350,000$ tournament to find the best fighter in the USSR (They really seem hung up on the glory of the former Soviet Union, you can expect at least only vignette per show comparing Oplot to the rise of the USSR). When they run an amateur card, some of the guys that are fighting find out that they're fighting about an hour before the card starts. They once flew in what are seemingly the worst members of America Top Team and while none of them won, it proved that Ukrainians might be the only people more susceptible to wrestling than the Japanese.

In the summer's tournament one of the finalists learned how to do a kimura "on the internet". Basically it's SFL but with Eastern Europeans instead and instead of malnourished Sri Lankans, it's malnourished Dagestani guys. Usually hilarious. When they win, they get paid pretty well but celebrate with a victory beer (chugged in-ring), a victory tee-shirt, or by dancing a victory jig

Sounds "cool", how/when do I watch?
Follow this thread for the weekend b-league post and check in on Friday and Saturday mornings! We'll have links and me and Indy will likely be in #mma shooting the poo poo about it.

poo poo, I had completely forgotten about Bibiano Fernandez. Please come to the UFC Bibi.

He won't because of money. He'd undoubtedly make more money in the UFC but he fights for the biggest contractually guaranteed purses so he can provide for his family no matter what. It's a bit of an unusual view but he has a unique perspective because his mother died when he was a kid, his father couldn't afford to provide for him and abandoned him, and he ended up spending years living hunting in the jungle as a boy.

So unless they wave a contract structured PRIDE style, he's going to be fighting in weird places.

I have NEVER received the respect I deserve as the leader and founder of The Masterflock, the internet's largest and oldest Christopher Masterpiece fan group in all of history, and I DEMAND that changes. From now on, you will respect Skinty McEdger!

WSOF are having some serious production snafu's tonight, they've played the walkouts for the first fight three times during the walk out for the second.

I have NEVER received the respect I deserve as the leader and founder of The Masterflock, the internet's largest and oldest Christopher Masterpiece fan group in all of history, and I DEMAND that changes. From now on, you will respect Skinty McEdger!

I have NEVER received the respect I deserve as the leader and founder of The Masterflock, the internet's largest and oldest Christopher Masterpiece fan group in all of history, and I DEMAND that changes. From now on, you will respect Skinty McEdger!